The new industry guide, jointly published today by the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries (AMI), the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) and the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association (IMLA), brings greater clarity and transparency on how lenders and intermediaries work together on mortgage sales and administration.
Although much of what is in the guide is already in practice in the industry, the guide gives everyone - intermediaries and lenders - a shared understanding and clear description of what should be done.
The guide will be useful underpinning for market confidence, and should help consumers and policymakers, as well as the industry.
With the FSA turning its attention to proposals on distribution and advice in November, the industry sees the guide as an important marker and clear evidence that common, high quality working standards can be achieved through productive collaboration between the lending and intermediary sectors.
In launching the report, Robert Sinclair from AMI commented: "I would like to extend my gratitude to all the lender and broker representatives who have given time and effort to arrive at what is an extremely practical document.
“The work undertaken has done much to cement the value that all parties bring to ensuring a vibrant and competitive mortgage market that works well for consumers. AMI very much anticipates this is the start of a longer collaborative journey."
Peter Williams from IMLA added: "We have been working on this for some months and have consulted widely. Our hope is that it will make a real difference in terms of overall performance of the intermediary mortgage market place.
“We are delighted this has come about and through real cross trade body collaboration on this key sector. The UK market remains challenging and good advice and support will be at a premium. We hope the guide will help make that a reality."
And Jackie Bennett from the CML concluded: "This initiative demonstrates how, given the opportunity, lenders and intermediaries are able and willing to collaborative very effectively to drive good practice in the marketplace and create concrete mechanisms to achieve it, irrespective of regulatory intervention.
“The guide will also be a useful benchmark for analysing the FSA's new proposals when they emerge."
